Jerry Work asked:


Bamboo is a remarkable material. Although it is very wood-like in appearance and texture, it is actually a form of grass that grows very tall, very quickly. Bamboo is traditionally used as a structural or decorative material, such as to create rugs and flooring. But I wanted to explore some of the more unusual uses for this material. As I have discovered, bamboo can be used for just about anything.

Bamboo is a popular choice for making musical instruments, especially flutes. Bamboo flutes can be traced back to ancient Egypt, from where they migrated to India, China, and Japan. But flutes are not the only kind of musical instrument that can be made from bamboo. Bamboo can also be used to make xylophones, drums, and chimes, among other things. Bamboo has a very pleasant resonant quality that makes it a fine material for musical instruments.

Bamboo is a popular material for fishing fly rods. Although it might seem intuitively that a single bamboo cane would become the rod of the pole, for professionally made fly rods this is not the case. In fact, the cane is split into strips, worked into specific angles, and then reassembled together, bound with a rod binding machine. The finished product looks smooth and professional, far removed from what the original bamboo cane looked like.

A company in China called HaPe International has released a line of toys made from bamboo, which the company claims is the world’s first collection of bamboo toys. The line consists mostly of traditional style toys and games, such as Dominos, Castella, and a board game version of Sudoku.

Just like wood, bamboo can be used to make paper. This has been going on for hundreds of years. Paper can be made from bamboo cane pulp, which is what a commercial process would use, or from the sheaths from new bamboo canes. This second technique is a more informal technique that a person making his own paper might use. Commercial bamboo paper is not made in great quantities because of the economic and ecological expense. There are better uses for bamboo.

Possibly the most strange use for bamboo is in the construction of bicycles. If you think about it, it makes sense. Bamboo is strong, straight, rigid, and light – exactly what you need for the frame of a bicycle. There is a company in California called Calfee Design that makes a line of bamboo bikes. They are truly things to behold. The company claims that the bamboo provides amazing vibration damping – even better than carbon fiber. As would be expected, custom-crafted bikes like this are not cheap. Expect to pay $2 to $4 thousand for one.

Don’t think for a minute that bicyclists have all the bamboo fun. There are a number of companies that make skate boards and surf boards out of bamboo. The bamboo in surf boards replaces fiberglass, resulting in a board that is lighter and stronger.

Finally, bamboo can be used to make fiber. This fiber can then be used to make any kind of clothing. You can literally wear bamboo, play bamboo, ride bamboo, eat bamboo, and live in a house made of bamboo. Given that bamboo grows very rapidly, it seems certain that in years to come this environmentally friendly material is only going to increase in popularity.

Jerry Work asked:


The most common use for cork remains as a means of capping wine bottles. There are now modern alternatives for this service, such as plastic stoppers, but traditional cork stoppers remain the most popular choice for wine purposes. In fact, it has been reported that cork accounts for only 15% of cork usage by weight, but 66% by revenue. However, cork is not a one trick pony. It can be used for some very interesting things outside of a wine bottle.

Cork is a very unusual material in that its cells are aligned in a honeycomb type of structure and filled with air, making it very compressible and elastic. When pressed, cork will return to its original shape. This property makes it useful for many purposes in industry and the arts.

One of the more common industry uses for cork is in the creation of low temperature insulation, which is used to insulate things like refrigeration pipes and water coolers. To make the insulation material, the cork is ground up, molded, and baked into the desired shape.

Cork is used in rockets. It has a high degree of fire resistance, also making it a good insulation material for high temperature environments. NASA uses cork in rockets to prevent rocket fuel from getting too hot during ignition.

Cork is a wonderful material for flooring that is available in many colors and patterns. Cork is durable and can be installed on almost any floor. It provides excellent insulation for both thermal and acoustic purposes. Cork flooring is also easy to keep clean, requiring only vacuuming or damp mopping. However, one caveat is that since cork is a substance that expands and contracts, it is important that the humidity level in the building containing the cork flooring be kept within a controlled range.

Cork is hypoallergenic, which makes it useful for anything that comes in contact with human skin. For instance, a company in Canada makes a computer mouse pad out of cork. Given that a computer operator’s hand spends a lot of time on the mouse pad, this is an excellent option for someone with sensitive skin.

In 2002, American John Pollack and his partner Garth Goldstein made international news by successfully navigating a boat down the Douro River in Portugal that was made entirely of cork stoppers. The project demonstrated yet another interesting and unusual use for cork, even without manufacturing it into any kind of particular end product.

There has been concern in recent years about wineries switching away from cork. The reason for the shift is that a cork stopper can on occasion ruin the taste of wine. Rather than being a good environmental move, it is argued that the shift away from cork will be damaging to the environment. The reason is that without wineries using cork, the demand for cork would fall to the point that cork forests would stop being maintained or replaced altogether with more profitable products. Therefore, coming up with new and innovative uses for cork may be critical to its future.